The accepted definition of Apartheid by the United Nations and the International criminal court is as follows:
‘Apartheid refers to the implementation and maintenance of a system of legalized racial segregation in which one racial group is deprived of political and civil rights. Apartheid is a crime against humanity punishable under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. It was also labelled a crime against humanity by the UN General Assembly in 1966, resolution 2202 A (XXI).’
In July of 2018 the Israeli Knesset passed the Nation State Bill which deprived two million Israeli Palestinian citizens of their normal citizenship rights afforded by any country in the world. Overnight, the Israeli Knesset confirmed what we all already knew, that Israel is far from being the only democracy in the Middle East, but a theocracy for Jews only with a government based on an Apartheid system.
The Jewish citizens of Israel have all the privileges and the two million or so Arab citizens are, at best, third-class citizens of the state. Only Jews in Israel have the right to self-determination; only Hebrew is the official language of the state and the rest of the population have to learn to accept it and live with it.
Netanyahu called it, ‘a defining moment in the annuls of Zionism’.
No matter what you think of Mr Netanyahu he continually reveals himself as a hate-monger and a liar.
“Arabs want to annihilate us all: women, children, and men.” That comment caused Facebook to close his account for 24 hours.
Then there was this racist and discriminatory offering after the election last March, “ The left-wing only has 47 votes and the Arabs are not part of the equation.”
Earlier, when he realised that his chance of an overall win in the 2015 election was shaky cried, “The government of the right is at risk. Arab voters are heading to the polling stations in droves.”
There is a well-known saying that goes something like this: “For evil to flourish it only takes a few good men to look the other way.”
The insidious evil that is Israel is flourishing and too many governments of the world are still looking the other way.
This legalised Apartheid system was challenged in the Knesset last week when Yusef Jabareen MK, and a member of the Arab Joint List put forward his bill to the Knesset proposing that human rights, self determination and democracy should be available to all Israeli citizens, not exclusively Jewish citizens.
“What I am proposing to you,” he said, “ is first and foremost a peace treaty between the state and its Arab citizens, before addressing what is beyond its borders.”
Mr Jabareen was referring, of course, to the recent photo opportunity on The Whitehouse South Lawn, when Mr Trump together with his close friend, Mr Netanyahu hosted their new friends, Mr Abdullah Bin Zayid of UAE and the Bahrain Foreign Minister, Abdullatif Alzayani in order to jointly sign something called the Abraham Agreement.
Dr Ahmad Al Tibi MK, another member of the Arab Joint List succinctly described what is happening in Israel when he said:
“Instead of making what Netanyahu calls ‘peace’ with the Gulf states, Sudan and Mauritania, he would do better to look inward and make real peace and a social contract between the state and 20% of its population. Most of all, it is worth his while to stop inciting against this [Israeli-Arab] population. There is only one way to do this, and that is by adopting a Basic Law on Equality, which will state that all citizens are equal. But Netanyahu should take the first step by stopping the incitement and discrimination against the [Israeli] Arab public.”
Needless to say the bill was defeated by a large majority and the Arab MKs were subjected to a torrent of hate and abuse.
Dr Hanan Ashrawi of the PLO, tweeted: “Unabashed, unapologetic racism & “legalized” discrimination in Israel. That’s how non-Jewish Palestinians continue to be dehumanized.”
In conclusion, history has taught us that invaders and occupiers will not be satisfied until their plans are complete. We, the Palestinians, are very well aware of the Zionist plans for the ethnic cleansing and the usurping of the entire land mass of historic Palestine and beyond. The plans were and still are for a Greater Israel from the brook of the Nile to the Euphrates. Arab leaders, who as described by the late Israeli General, Rafael Eitan, ‘are scurrying like cockroaches’ to make peace with Israel should be aware that by normalising with Israel they are inviting Apartheid into their own lands.
Jafar M Ramini is a Palestinian writer and political analyst, based in London. He was born in Jenin in 1943 and was five years old when he and his family had to flee the terror of the Urgun and Stern gangs. Justice for the people of Palestine is a life-long commitment.
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